


you and me together (we can make it better)

by AgentJoanneMills



Category: Power Rangers (2017)
Genre: (come have a sip of pink lemonade), (i blame tumblr for this), (into the trash bin i once again go), F/F, Getting Together, I Will Go Down With This Ship, Romance, is2g these two will kill me, ooh la la, trimberly - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-10
Updated: 2017-05-10
Packaged: 2018-10-30 08:39:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,325
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10873164
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AgentJoanneMills/pseuds/AgentJoanneMills
Summary: It sort of took Kimberly by surprise, robbing her of breath and shutting down her survival instincts before she even realised what the hell was going on.(Alternatively: Kim’s got a crush, but she doesn’t quite know what to do about it.)





	you and me together (we can make it better)

**Author's Note:**

> *Recognizable elements belong to their respective owners.  
> **Merely a work of fanfiction. No copyright infringement intended.  
> ***Title from “[Determinate](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aXQ4FUUSTm0)” by Lemonade Mouth, where Naomi Scott aka Kimberly Hart plays bassist Mo. Spot the cutie, fam.  
> ****Set post-movie.

 

It sort of took Kimberly by surprise, robbing her of breath and shutting down her survival instincts before she even realised what the hell was going on.

 _It_ , of course, refers to the . . . _thing_ that rises out of her chest like a tide whenever she so much as thinks about _Trini_ _—_ her yellow-wearing, always-smirking, reckless ball of angst of a teammate.

It’s getting rather troublesome, to be honest.

And the fact of the matter is, all things considered, perhaps she really should have expected this. All the signs have pointed out to this, anyway—it’s a rather unavoidable thing. She can’t help it. Who really can help themselves when faced with such an adorable scowl set on such an adorable face?

Not Kim, that’s for sure. She’s been entranced ever since she first saw Trini that fateful night, arguing with Zack (as she’s always done ever since) and being a general grump in the face of their imminent doom.

 

And yeah, okay, maybe it did take a backseat from her mind, and that, at least, was not her fault. It’s not like she’s the one who blew up a freaking mountain, and it’s not like she’s the one who aggressively chipped away at a stone wall to retrieve glowing coins (without even knowing exactly what they are, because _of course_ Zack won’t consider such matters _before_ acting on his impulses), and it’s not like she’s the one who nearly destroyed their entire town because of an intense need to get some mystical crystal buried deep underground.

Of course, through all these, Kim’s always found her way to Trini anyway. She ran with her when they were scrambling away from the police instead of going with Jason and Billy, whose names she at least already knew at the time. She ran _after_ Trini when she tried to escape from the four of them, even scaling a mountain then jumping over a cliff just to catch her . . . and then pulling her _over_ that same cliff just a few minutes later.

The point is she’s been gravitating towards Trini all this time, and she’s always found a way to refuse thinking about or even acknowledging this relentless, persistent _thing_ that’s niggling at the edges of her subconscious, struggling to break out of the surface.

But after the whole fiasco—what with Billy dying and then being resurrected, all of them managing to actually _morph_ and use their zords, defeating Goldar, and bitch-slapping Rita _freaking_ Repulsa out and beyond earth’s atmosphere—Kim finally gets a lot of time to think about things in general and a _thing_ in particular.

And so the _thing_ has once again made itself known, and this time, there’s no world-ending catastrophe to take her mind away from it.

(Not that she’d really wish for a disaster to happen just so she has an excuse to not think about a _thing_.)

(Of course not, because that would be sort of a jerk thing to do, and she’s trying real hard not to be that person anymore.)

(But if disaster finds her without prompting, well . . .

That’s a different story altogether now, isn’t it?)

And so Kim thinks, and thinks, and thinks some more. She’s pretty sure her brain’s mush at this point, but that’s understandable, especially when aforementioned brain has arrived to a particularly significant conclusion that is going to make her life a lot more complicated than before.

(Which is truly saying something, because _hello_ , her life’s already complicated as it is.

Being a full-time teenager and part-time superhero kind of does that.)

 Anyway, the bottom line is, this relentless, persistent thing that’s rearing its head right under Kim’s nose like some sort of feral hellion?

Well.

She can’t escape it.

Not anymore.

Not when she’s pretty sure that somewhere along the way—between fighting for their lives and saving the town and going on coffee-and-doughnut non-dates in the name of Friendship™—this relentless, persistent _thing_ has morphed (with no pun intended, cross her heart) into actual, inescapable, real-life _feelings_.

 

And Kimberly Ann Hart with _feelings_?

 

That just spells trouble.

 

 _So_ much of it. 

 

**//**

 

That’s just the beginning, though, because of course it is. Her life is a mess and it likes to keep her on her toes.

With the realisation that she has _actual_ , _inescapable_ , _real-life_ feelings for her friend comes this somewhat exigent _need_ to pull said friend into her arms and kiss her until they are both breathless.

And it is as intense a need as it is annoyingly inconvenient, because, of course, Kim couldn’t possibly act on it. Unlike Zack, Kim possesses some sort of forethought, her previous unwise decisions notwithstanding. Sure, she could be totally brash and irresponsible (for reference, see: the cyber bullying, cutting her hair off in a dank school bathroom, jumping off cliffs as a form of self-expression—and later as a declaration of interest, but that’s neither here nor there), but she can’t afford to be like that right now.

Not when so much is at stake.

Not when it concerns _Trini_.

 

So, no, Kim doesn’t do anything about it. She ignores that strange pull in her heartstrings and the swooping sensation at the pit of her stomach and the loud thrum beneath her skin, all screaming at her to just give in to the urge—to just tangle her fingers on soft brown hair and tug Trini’s face to hers and finally wipe away that ever-present smirk with her lips.

No. Kim doesn’t do any of those.

She doesn’t do any of those because Kim recognises the fact that she is one of Trini’s only friends, and she knows that that is a huge freaking deal. Trini isn’t one for socialising, and it quite literally took a whole bunch of death-defying adventures and mystical coins for her to even tell them her _name_.

It takes a lot for Trini to open up and to let herself be attached to people enough to call them friends (not that she explicitly called them that, but Kim’s learned to read between the lines), and Kim can’t find it in herself to risk that just because she wants to kiss her. Badly.

So like a champ, Kim squashes down the urge, buries it beneath a mantra to “be a damn good friend,” and smiles like nothing could possibly be wrong.

 

In time, Kim thinks, maybe she’ll even get over this and finally move on.

 

 **//**  

 

She doesn’t get over it, and—surprise, surprise!—neither does she move on.

To be fair to herself, that’s not entirely her fault.

It’s just that she apparently has a thing for emotionally constipated people of small stature, who are always seething with barely contained rage in their tiny bodies and always ready to pummel anyone who has anything to say about it. And the clincher? Well, no matter how much Trini asserts her position as the resident badass, it just doesn’t work, not the way she wants it to.

Because mostly, Kim just finds her adorable.

It’s not a good idea to tell her that to her face though, but that doesn’t stop Kim, because Kim’s careless side sort of activates whenever Trini’s near, and she just really like riling up the usually stoic ranger, and it almost always works because Trini’s fierce and overly reactive and Trini glaring at her sort of incites funny fuzzy feelings deep within Kim’s bones.

God, she’s got a problem.

So, yeah, fine, maybe it is  _her_ fault that she’s unable to get past her _thing_ with Trini.

But really, most of the blame she’d pin on her heart’s inability to deal with her feelings in anything even resembling a healthy way.

 

What’s more, even her ranger powers are working against her. The five of them have been wired to each other in some sort of metaphysical level ever since becoming a team, and they are naturally in tune with each other.

But this is especially true for Kim with Trini.

Honestly, it’s like a special Trini radar has been installed right into her nervous system, and she can always feel it whenever Trini’s going through some of her famed mental acrobatics, overthinking everything. Kim’s also got a particular sense of when Trini’s feeling down and wants to be alone but _shouldn’t_ be.

Kim’s become like a compass and Trini’s the magnetic North Pole, and she is helpless against the pull. So she pinpoints where Trini is through this neural bond or whatever, and she stays with her, even when Trini doesn’t necessarily give off the vibe that she wants company. Trini never tells her to leave though—she scowls, but Kim’s used to that and it doesn’t faze anymore—so Kim stays with her.

So often they spend time together, and Kim falls even deeper into this chasm of her own making.

And like with anything else that’s got to with Trini, Kim is utterly powerless to stop it.

 

 **//**  

 

Look, Kim’s just a teenager. A super-powered one, yes, but still a teenager. Being a teenager means there are roles she’s gotta fulfill to keep her parents off her back—not that that’s a real issue since she became a Power Ranger, what with the million ways she could ditch them and escape, but still.

She’s still in high school too, and this means she gets to see Trini a whole of a lot more, these days. The five of them finally establish a new normal in their lives: go to their classes (something that Zack protested at first, though he did as asked as much as he could, for there are still days when he couldn’t bear to leave his mom alone, and they couldn’t begrudge him that), pay their dues in detention (it’s not quite a shock, that first time Kim saw Trini and Zack in that room, smirking too smugly in their supposed punishment), train to be the best rangers they could be (because Zordon told them Rita won’t be the last villain they’d fight, and they believed him).

Then there’s homework, which, honestly, isn’t really all that bad. Kim’s not an idiot, and she does have a brain she uses for academic stuff. Besides, ever since her fall from grace, there really wasn’t all that much for her to do—until she became part of a superhero group, that is.

Anyway, yeah. Homework. It’s all well and good, and Kim’s got a handle on their lessons, but then.

But then.

Trini’s in her biology class, and Trini in her immediate vicinity means an unfocused Kim, and that means sometimes—well. Sometimes Kim’s concentration is poured into actively trying to not look at Trini, who always sits at the back of the room, instead of paying any mind to what their teacher is saying.

This whole focusing-on-anything-but-Trini trick works about as well as it sounds, and usually, before she knows it, it’s the end of the class and she hasn’t absorbed even a grain of knowledge.

The loss of focus apparently doesn’t escape Trini’s attention, because one day after training she calls Kim out on it.

“You’re getting sloppy.” Trini’s tone is impressively even, despite them having just finished a savage round of hand-to-hand combat, Trini with Jason and Kim with Zack. The boys are on the other side of the pit now, watching Billy finish up with Alpha-5.

Kim frowns, pauses in wiping the sweat off her neck. “Excuse me?”

Trini just shrugs. “You’re not focusing as much as you should, I think.”

“I kicked Zack’s ass,” she points out defensively.

Trini shrugs again, and Kim wants to scream at the casualness of it. God, what she’d give just to have even an idea of what’s going on through her mind. “You could have kicked it earlier on, but you didn’t.”

“Maybe he’s getting better.”

“He is,” Trini admits. “But you are too. Well, _were_ , until whatever happened happened.”

“What do you mean?” Kim’s heart begins beating so fast that whatever remains of Rita could probably hear it in outer space. Does Trini know? Kim can’t be sure. It’s so hard to read her, most of the time, even after all that they’ve gone through. “What happened?”

“I don’t know what exactly happened. Only you could answer that. You’re the one being all weird and distracted.”

“Am not.”

“Are too.” Trini raises an eyebrow at her, challenging. “You’ve been spacing out during bio too.”

“How do you—How would you even know? You’re like, sitting way back!”

“I’ve had a year of watching you in class. You bounce your knees a lot when you’re not focusing on the lesson.” Then she mutters, obviously annoyed, “It’s sorta dizzying to watch, actually.”

Trini freezes as soon as what she’s said registers, and Kim realises she’s not intended to say that aloud at all. But now all Kim can think about is that Trini has been watching _her_ —for a _year_ , during most of which they didn’t even know each other.

Trini has actually paid attention to her, enough so that she knows when Kim’s being weird, and honestly how is Kim supposed to go back to normalcy after this?

This fact, more than any other, sends Kim into some sort of heart attack or whatever, and it feels like falling over that cliff, over again—freeing, exhilarating, and so much like a beginning.

“You’ve watched me?” And of course the words sound breathless, hopeful, and pathetically adoring, but Kim’s dying here, okay? She deserves a medal for even being coherent enough to speak.

Trini rolls her eyes, going for dismissive, but she might be blushing? That might be just the poor lighting in the pit, though. “You’re _Kim Hart_ ,” Trini says, emphasizing her name with a hand waving vaguely in Kim’s general direction, “of course I paid attention. Had to make sure I won’t get in the way of the Queen Bee now, didn’t I?” The words should have cut deep into Kim, but there’s a softness in Trini’s gaze, a playful crinkle in the corner of her eyes, that makes her think maybe it’s not intended to hurt her at all.

Kim huffs a laugh. “Considering that it took Billy blowing up a mountain for us to even meet, I’d say you were successful.” She looks into those eyes then, eyes that never seems able, or willing, to give up their secrets.“You’re really good at the whole avoidance thing.”

Trini is quiet for a while. When she finally answers, her voice is soft, and her words come slowly, like maybe she’s tasting them before letting them go. “I know I am. But you’re not. And whatever it is you’re trying to avoid”—her eyes are dark beneath the sliver of light, deep and unending like space, and it’s like looking into all there was and all there is and all there ever will be, and Kim’s heart aches just staring at her—“it’s eating you alive.”

 

So, yeah. That’s worked out splendidly.

 

 **//**  

 

It’s gotten to the point where even Jason Scott—who is, as a rule, hopeless when it comes to this sort of thing—has come to notice she’s not being totally fine.

“Look, you have to work it out,” he says, looking like a young father encouraging his child. It would have made Kim laugh out loud were the look not directed at her.

“Work what out?”

He sighs. “You know what.”

“Hmm.”

“Please don’t make me say it out loud.”

“Say what out loud.”

He sighs again, pinches the bridge of his nose. Then, in an exasperated breath: “This . . . _thing_ you have, with Trini.”

Kim tenses up, muscles locking in for a fight-or-flight scenario. “There is—”

“Don’t even think about lying,” Jason says. “I’d feel it if you were.”

It confuses her for a second before understanding dawns. She grumbles, “Stupid ranger powers.”

“Stupid ranger powers,” he agrees.

Kim laughs, but it can almost be considered a beginning of a sob. “There is no thing.”

“Maybe not yet.” Jason puts an arm around her, comforting, his presence as solid as his resolve to protect all of them, and it takes her several seconds to relax enough against him. “But you want there to be, don’t you?”

“More than anything,” Kim answers, barely a whisper. She drops her head on the crook of his neck. “More than anything.”

 

 **//**  

 

“You know, for what it’s worth, I think she feels the same way,” Zack tells her one day, his hair ruffled as usual, his grin easy beneath the sun.

Kim frowns at him. “Did Jason say something?”

His grin widens, and she wants to throttle him—more than usual, that is, because Zack’s specialty is having people want to throttle him. “Nah,” he says, sounding terribly pleased, “he didn’t have to. You kinda wear your heart on your sleeve, Hart.”

Kim doesn’t throttle him then, but she does flick a stone right at his solar plexus.

She smiles beatifically when he groans in pain.

 

 **//**  

 

Billy doesn’t really say anything. He just gives her a pat on the back and an encouraging smile.

Kim sighs, but she can’t help smiling back.

 

 **//**  

 

“The boys are acting all weird.” Trini grouchily stares at where said boys are huddled, their backs to them. It looks like they’re arguing, but then again, wherever Zack is, arguments are par for the course.

Kim rolls her eyes good-naturedly. “Is that some sort of new badass ranger schtick, calling everyone weird?”

“It’s true though.” She’s squinting now, like the force of her stare is somehow going to compel the others to divulge their deepest, darkest secrets.

Kim just watches her fondly, because that’s an actual thing she does where Trini’s concerned. “Do you wanna get out of here, then, away from their weirdness?”

That seems to shake Trini out of whatever staring contest she’s been having, and she looks at Kim questioningly. “Where to?”

“Not really sure. Up the cliffs? You can meditate or whatever with your stupid music.”

Trini scoffs, even as she does start walking towards the exit, Kim following closely behind. “It’s not stupid.”

“What kind of idiot actually finds death metal relaxing?”

“This kind of idiot, Kim, so watch it,” Trini says in a warning tone that’s not really a warning at all, because the words are infused with teasing and impishness that Kim can’t resist.

“It’s all noise.”

“There’s rhythm, you just can’t hear it.”

“There are dissonant notes that I do hear.”

“You just don’t know how to listen.”

“Sure I do.”

“No, you don’t.” Trini stops walking, turns to look at her. They are in a somewhat secluded corner of the ship. Her eyes are sharp and edged with something Kim can’t decipher. “You may hear a lot of things, but you can’t parse through them all yet, and so you can’t really listen.”

Her breath catches in her throat, choking her. “I—”

“It’s okay though,” Trini then adds, and her smile is a little crooked, a little sad in the corners. “I can wait.”

“What—” Kim shakes her head. There’s blood roaring in her ears, loud and rash and frantic. She takes a step closer. Then another. And another. “What do you mean?”

“I mean what I said,” Trini answers, looking up at her, their faces inches apart. “Didn’t you hear?”

 

And there it is, the rhythm.

A quick staccato, a rapid thump-thump-thump.

 _Loud_ and _rash_ and _frantic_ , and in time with Kim’s heartbeat.

 

Kim tips forwards, resting her forehead against Trini’s. They breathe the same air, and Kim cannot think.

Not past the heat radiating from Trini’s body, not past the smell of sunshine on her skin combined with sweat from training too hard, not past the feel of her, soft and present and _here_.

 

“I hear everything.” Kim swallows, inhales deeply, and Trini is in her lungs. “I hear _you_.”

She feels rather than sees Trini’s smile. “Good.”

 

Then Trini kisses her, and to Kim, it tastes like the start of forever.

 

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> look i ain’t even gonna make excuses ok i’m trash, i know this, you know this, everyone else and their mothers know this, and here we all are
> 
> the popular opinion is that kim’s the smoothest operator to ever operate in the galaxy but lemme just say that even the best masters have weaknesses and trini just happens to be hers so yeah sorry i don’t make the rules
> 
> Come yell at me or something at [A Blank Canvas](http://agentjoannemills.tumblr.com/ask) or [@eyyogg](https://twitter.com/eyyogg). Feedback is much appreciated; feelings fuel everything. :))


End file.
